Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (12): Phil Kellerman, Dick Drumm, Murray Forth, Pat Bailey, Jim Leyhane, Roberto Martinez, Ray Hannan, Terry Brewer, Debbie Brown, Peter Brown, Kevin Leyhane, Andy Leyhane.

Guests (5): Speaker Al Mackey, Oley Foundation Director Joan Bishop, 2 dietitians from Ellis Hospital, Spinney resident Bob Howe.

MEETING NOTES: Phil Kellerman presided, greeting members and guests. … Members will share and discuss fundraising ideas at a Club Assembly scheduled for Thursday, December 5. … Reminders that (1) Phil will be selling free market coffees for the holidays, with $5 from the sale of each bag going into the club’s ShelterBox effort; (2) a supply of bags and tags is available at each dinner meeting for member participation in our ongoing Clynk container recycling effort for ShelterBox; (3) Members are urged to work on themed gift baskets for the silent auction that will be part of our annual Holiday Party, to be hosted by Maggie and Murray Forth at their residence on Thursday, December 19. … No meeting next week due to Thanksgiving Day.

PROGRAM: “Hiking for Oley”

Our guest speaker was Al Mackay, 61, who in the 1990s received aggressive treatment for cancer and ended up with a feeding tube  because of difficulty of swelling. After finding the Oley Foundation on the Internet, he became a client.

Al, an experienced hiker, wanted to make a fundraising hike from June 17 to July 19 for Oley by traversing the Long Trail in Vermont, part of which is on the Appalachian Trail. He eventually made it from the Massachusetts line north to the Canadian border, a 272-mile hike while carrying a backpack that weighed more than 30 pounds.

Al had to overcome many adversities, including knee problems at Mile 36, rain, mud, fog, cliffs, and the steep trails that in some parts required ladders.  His mantra: “Limitation is a state of mind.”

You can read more details of Al’s feat by clicking here to access the Oley Foundation newsletter.

Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (16): Phil Kellerman, Murray Forth, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Terry Brewer, Pat Bailey, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Wells Packard, Debbie Rodriguez, A.J. Amato, Charlie Foote, Kevin Leyhane, Dick Drumm.

Guests (1): Dan Caurabia.

MEETING NOTES: President Phil welcomed members and our guest speaker. … Terry Brewer reported that District 7190 has approved $35,000 to support membership recruitment and retention efforts, $15,000 of which will pay an individual to head up the effort. The District membership is reaching a point at which RI may reconfigure the region and merge 7190 into another district. …

Bill Dowd updated plans for the club’s 60th Anniversary Celebration Dinner, scheduled at the Comfort Inn & Suites for March 5, 2020. He said he has reserved the Berkshire Ballroom there, and hired a caterer, getting the two largest items out of the way. He noted that he has sent an email to all members as a “save the date” request in which he also invited input from everyone on things they would like to have considered as part of the event. … Phil reiterated that he will be selling fair trade coffee specialties during the holidays as a ShelterBox fundraising effort, and that the ongoing Clynk container redemption and recycling program overseen by Bill Dowd also is a ShelterBox fundraiser. …

A reminder that our annual Holiday Party & Themed Basket Silent Auction will be hosted by Murray and Maggie Forth at their residence on Thursday, December 19. Ideas for themed baskets are being put on the club website periodically. (See item at right.) … Anyone scheduled to secure a program for January is asked to get that information to program coordinator Dick Drumm ASAP so we can get it on the calendar. Still not sure what date you have? Just check the chart at the bottom of the website calendar page. … The speaker next week is a man who, despite being on a feeding tube, hiked 270 miles on Vermont’s Long Trail to raise funds for the Oley Foundation. .

PROGRAM: “The Norman Rockwell Museum”

A.J. Amato introduced guest speaker Dan Caurabia, a guide at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA.

Dan is a wealth of information about the iconic American painter and illustrator who used, as he put it, “commonplace people for commonplace themes”; i.e., friends, family, acquaintances and the like as models for his works that have become American icons.

In addition to providing a look at the early life and artistic training of Rockwell, Dan explained the changes in color, technique, and subject matter over Rockwell’s years of painting that ranged from his early teen years until the end of his life in 1978 at the age of 84.

Dan also shared photographs and anecdotes about some of the people who modeled for Rockwell and Dan’s experiences meeting many of them when they made a pilgrimage to Stockbridge to visit the museum. He also invited SRC members to visit the facility on Fridays when he conducts tours.

Information on the Norman Rockwell Museum, now celebrating its 50th anniversary,  is available online.

Held at Quigley’s Restaurant
573 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061

Members Attending (14): Phil Kellerman, Murray Forth, Bill Dowd, Jim Leyhane, Peter Brown, Debbie Brown, Pat Bailey, Ray Hannan, Dean Calamaras, Doris Calamaras, Becky Raymond, Wells Packard, Roberto Martinez, Debbie Rodriguez.

Guests (2): Kurt Vincent, Mike Stangl.

President Phil welcomed members and guests. … Jim Leyhane will represent the club at an informational meeting with East Greenbush Central School District personnel and law enforcement officials to discuss ways to get seed money to begin installing cameras on school buses in line with a new state approval. The aim is to help enforce the prohibition on passing a stopped school bus, which seems to be on the rise. The cost is about $1,000 per camera, and the EGCSD has about 100 buses, so outfitting all of them would be cost prohibitive at first. The theory is that each fine for violating the rule would go toward purchasing additional cameras. In the long term, if such a program comes to fruition, SRC might then work with other local school districts to expand it. …

Dean Calamras reported that the recent Gift of Life golf tournament raised $13,752.49 for the medical philanthropy. He also reported that the Bolivian child who had been scheduled to come to Albany for cardiac surgery will not be able to because his mother cannot get a travel visa. GOL will hold a fundraiser and silent auction. Details are available online. … Debbie Rodriguez volunteered to chair this year’s Adopt-a-Family holiday effort with Circles of Mercy, succeeding Bill Dowd. Bill said he would be happy to work with her. Details will be shared once Circles send us the details on the families and their needs. …

Phil has begun selling specialty fair trade coffees at $15 a bag or $25 for two, with $5 from each sale going to our ShelterBox drive. … Our annual Holiday Party & Gift Basket Silent Auction will be held on Thursday, December 19, at the home of Murray and Maggie Forth. Details to come, but start working on your basket ideas now. … Next week’s speaker will present a program on the Norman Rockwell Museum, located in Stockbridge, MA.

PROGRAM: “Trolleys Across the Hudson”

Kurt Vincent, prominent local historian and the Village of Nassau’s official historian, provided a PowerPoint look at the history and the future of the trolley system that opened in 1900 and ran between Albany and Hudson.

Portions of the system remain in various pieces and a large chunk of it is being incorporated under the name Albany-Hudson Rail Trail into the state’s under-development system of rail trails that eventually will run from New York City to Buffalo.

The local project’s Facebook page contains updates and progress report. Go here to access it.